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Students with Hearing Loss Connect at Beach Picnic

6/9/2015

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Students from East County with hearing loss got together at
the beach June 7 to make new friends and connect over games as part of a family
event organized by employees from the San Diego County Office of Education.

Nine families attended as well as a local Girl Scouts troop
that helped organize games and set up the event at Crown Point Park.

“It was a beautiful afternoon to be at the beach, and our
students got reacquainted or made new friends,” said Mary Brewer, one of the
teachers who organized the event for the East County Special Education Local
Plan Area (SELPA). Teacher Angela Sorrem also helped plan the outing.

This was the first time the SELPA has organized a year-end
beach day. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response from the families, the
organizers hope to make it an annual event.

Social events like this are very important to students with
hearing loss because they’re often the only child in their school with that
disability, said Heather DiFede, senior director of the East County SELPA.

“It’s important to get them together with peers that they
might not see otherwise so they can get to know each other and build
relationships,” she said.